M.L. Dhawan remembers the singing sensation of yesteryear Geeta Dutt whose appeal has not declined for the present generation

Geeta
Dutt’s association with
Hindi film music began with Dhirubhai Desai’s Bhakta Prahlad (1946)
when at the age of 13 Geeta had just two lines to sing of the song suno-suno
prabhu binti hamari prabhu bhool hui mujhse bhari. Her rendering
of those two lines surprised everybody (including the composer Hanuman
Prasad) and became the genesis of a great musical career.

Geeta’s sense of
rhythm and cadence were impeccable. She did not, however, follow the
established norm of singing in a ghazal-motivated voice. She
introduced a free flowing style of singing that relied on spontaneous
expressions rather than trained vocals.

Producer Chunilal Shah
told S.D. Burman if you insist on this girl’s voice I am ready to go
along with your choice provided I like what I hear. In Do Bhai’s
(1947) Mera sundar sapna beet gaya, Yaad karo ge yaad karo ge ek
din humko yaad karo ge...’ her voice conveyed the sweetness of
honey and the pain of a bee sting. She carved a niche for herself by
holding her own against Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle and Shamshaad
Begum etc.

In the initial years of
her career, Geeta was known for singing bhajans in films like Har
Har Mahadev (1950), Jogan (1950) etc. S.D. Burman was among
the earliest composers to discover a rare swing in her voice. His
jazzy and westernised score for Baazi (1951) showcased Geeta’s
versatility. Her breezy voice articulated the spirit of Burmanda’s
music in Tadbeer se bigdi hui takdeer jagga le, Suno gajar kya gaye.
Her ability to be both sensual yet sensitive gave Geeta’s voice a
unique ethereal quality. Guru Dutt fell in love with Geeta during the
recording of Baazi and their romance culminated in their
marriage on May 26, 1953.

Geeta Dutt’s voice
could render a wide range of emotions and had an inner fire that
vindicated the song’s existence. She could spiritualise a lyric and
make it sensuous at the same time.

Guru Dutt launched a
film called Gauri with Geeta Dutt in the lead. When she went to
the studio for shooting, she learnt that her husband was in love with
Waheeda Rehman. Due to her troubled marriage she had complaints from
composers about her not being available for rehearsals and recording.
Asha took her place and went way ahead of her. Unable to reconcile
with her personal and professional frustrations, Geeta found solace in
liquor. Things turned worse for Geeta when Guru Dutt committed suicide
in October 1964.

Geeta was hardly 35 and
had magic in her voice. But times had changed. O.P. Nayyar was going
great guns with Asha. Geeta then made that famous phone call to him to
ask ‘What have I done that you do not send for me at all’.
Following this, he used Geeta’s vocals in the Twelve ‘Twelve O
‘Clock’ (1958) in lilters like Kaisa jadoo balam tu ne
daala.

It is the sheer volume
and scale of popularity that songs of Burman and Nayyar reached that
made them special in Geeta’s oeuvre, she was captivating and
alluring with other music directors as well. Na yeh chaand hoga
(Sharat/54/Hemant Kumar) Ae dil mujhe bata de.. (Bhai Bhai/56/Madan
Mohan) Aye jaan-e-wafa.. (Anarkali/53/Basant Prakash),
Khayalon mein kisikey.. (Banware Nain/50/Roshan) etc bear
testimony to this. Geeta’s versatility lay in her unique quality of
singing. Give her blatantly westernised tune this moment and a
complete classical composition the next, she will do justice to both.
She portrayed passionately cosmos of pent up emotions in Na jao
saiyaan chudda key baiyaan in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)
under the baton of Hemant Kumar. Raat raat bhar intezaar hai dil
dard se beqarar hai reflects her own desolute life.

The last songs of her
career Mujhe jaan na kaho meri jaan, koi chupke se aa ke, Mera dil
jo mera hota (Anubhav-71) and Aaj ki kali ghatta.. (Uski Kahani-1971)
recorded by her brother Kanu Roy revealed that to the last moment the
quality of her voice had neither faded nor deteriorated. It had its
Midas touch intact. Excessive drinking told upon Geeta’s health. She
was in and out of hospital a few times. It was in harkisondas Hospital
that on account of cirrhosis of liver she breathed her last on the
July 20, 1972. She is out of sight but many of Geeta’s songs endure
in appeal even today and make us mourn in memory of her life so sadly
cut short through emotional damage.